Week 47 - All About Abruzzo!

It's been a very quiet week, so not many photos, I am afraid!  I took some photos when we went to the local DIY store.  Here you can see the sliding door at the entrance which says' Now is the time to do / make something!!' There was a DIY promotion week, with some low prices on many items.

Below you can see a shelf full of Abruzzo wines.  

Hard to choose which one to buy really as they are all quite reasonably priced!  We bought a bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 'Miglianico' and it was very nice indeed.

 Bottles of wine from Abruzzo are usually quite expensive in the UK, but of course, they are much cheaper here, where the wine is actually produced.

Below in the distance (yellow/orange colour of the grapevines), you can just about make out one of the many vineyards near our home, which produce this special wine.  There are many 'cantinas' in the area, where you can buy bottles straight from the producer.

K took the photo above and I took the one below, both of the same view.

I introducd myself on an online course I am doing, and below is a collage that I included:

Still on the theme of Abruzzo, I have 2 copies of a magazine called 'Tesori D'Abruzzo'.  It is published 4 times a year and for 5 Euros, you get fabulous articles about Abruzzo's history and heritage, and also some wonderful photos.  I have numbers 30 and 32.  I wish I had bought all of the numbers as they came out, as to have the whole collection would be fantastic, but at 9 Euros for a back copy, that would make it 279 Euros for the whole set (gulp!!), which is way beyond my very modest means.... 
This magazine was first published in July 2006 and below you can see some of the early copies available to buy.

I decided I wanted to subscribe for a year, and it was a very simple process.  I downloaded and then printed off the online subscription form, filled it in, then paid 19 Euros at the Post Office, and now I am waiting for the first one to arrive which should be in January.  I can't wait to get it!  However, not sure how it is going to arrive as the postman is still not delivering to our house, so we will probably have to collct it from the PO.

Whilst reading one of the 2 copies that I have, I noticed this absolutely stunning video, highlighted on the main page.  It is called Twofold Nature - Abruzzo Sublime and Beautiful, from Alessandro Petrini.  I think this will certainly encourage a lot of visitors to come to Abruzzo!!


Twofold Nature - Abruzzo Sublime and Beautiful from Alessandro Petrini on Vimeo.

Week 27 - Sunny Days

This week flew past, with family visiting Abruzzo and time just to relax, with no Internet - bliss!  These sunflowers were just around the corner from where we were staying andat the moment are everywhere in Abruzzo.  Below these are fields just near home.

 .... this is one of the lovely views of where I stayed.

We ate out every day and this is a view of one of the restaurants we went to, called Lago Paradiso.  The food was excellent and truly delicious.  All homemade and local produce from the Abruzzo area.

It was lovely to have my mother and sister with me and we had so much to talk about. K stayed behind to look after the land and furkids, and was happy for me to have time out with them.


I went to the Giulianova beach a few times, and it was still low season, so it was very quiet indeed.

 This is where we ate a few times on the beach front.

When I got home at the end of the visit, there was so much catching up to do in the garden!  The excitement of unearthing my very first home-grown potatoes made my day!!  Below some of the new potatoes I dug up from the grow bag:

I boiled and then fried them in our olive oil, with rosemary thrown over them - truly delicious!!  I still have a crop growing in the veggie plot, and I will leave them a bit longer until I dig them up.

I picked some of the gladioli that were in bloom - almost as tall as I am, so I had to cut their stems, otherwise they were too tall for my vases!  

Below a Murano vase given as a wedding present by my Godmother - I think the pink gladioli fit perfectly in them!

I placed some of the flowers in a smaller vase to enjoy them for longer.









My lavendar bush was well and truly squashed when I got back ....

..and this little fellow is probably one of the culprits - lying in it for its catnap!

I quickly picked a few fresh sprigs to add to this special lavendar jug!

Week 27 was very enjoyable and relaxing and it was wonderful to spend quality time with family. Just catching up after being away has delayed posting this, but better late than never!

Week 28 post will hopefully come after the weekend, because again it is going to be a very busy week!

Week 18 - Cocullo Snake Festival

This week was dominated by our trip to Cocullo, a little village in the Abruzzo mountains.  We went there by train from Chieti, and travelled with Sangritrana.  It was very well-organized, and we would love to do other trips with this company!

It was the most incredible day trip I have had in ages and we were in Cocullo to witness the ancient pagan tradition of the Snake Festival.  This blog post by Life in Abruzzo blog sums it all up very well indeed, and is worth reading to get a feeling of the atmosphere and excitement of this quite unusual tradition.

Snake lovers from all over the world descend on this tiny Abruzzo village to see the statue of St Domenico, the patron saint of Cocullo, being covered in writhing, slippery snakes and then carried all around the village with great fanfare and excitement...

The train journey from Chieti passed spectacular scenery and we were serenaded by a band of musicians playing traditional Abruzzo music.  We were offered Cantucci, a traditional Abruzzo type of cake, coffee and chocolates.  This was a lovely way to enjoy the journey!

When we arrived in Cocullo, we walked from the station to the centre of the village with 2 of the group leaders.

As you can imagine, the centre of the village was absolutely packed, but we were able to get quite a good position on a slightly raised pavement and in front of the church where the statue of St Domenico, would come out of.  

 

There were thousands of spectators, and we had to wait patiently for a couple of hours in the bright sunshine until the moment arrived, the appearance of the statue coming out of the church.  I am afraid there was a sea of cameras, ipads, mobile devices everywhere in front of me so photos were a bit difficult to get! You can just about see the statue of St Domenico in the middle of the picture below.

 












Below you can see a few photos, which I have enlarged for a better view:

 

 























Other photos below of 'serpari' with their snakes, who didn't seem to mind being handled and phtographed by curious onlookers!

For someone like me who doesn't have a particular affinity with snakes, this was quite a challenge for me to overcome! Being surrounded by people carrying their snakes around freely within very close proximity, was a bit amazing.  So many of the snake owners (serpari) said 'Permesso' (excuse me), and then the crowd would instantly part, and make way to let the snakes through.  This was an unforgettable experience.

The brass band members getting ready for the procession...

We saw girls dressed in traditional Abruzzo clothes.....

and one girl was also carrying a snake!

 

We were treated to an incredible fireworks display which was so loud it made the whole surrounding area reverberate strongly!

We went for a walk away from the crowds below in the many stalls selling food and souvenirs, which were mostly of real-looking toy snakes!

The old quarter was empty, and we enjoyed walking around the cobbled alleyways...

At 3.30pm we met at the town hall to attend a special book presentation of Viteliu. It was very interesting to learn about the content of this book from the author himself.

Time to go home at 5.30pm and we caught the train and were given lots of nibbles and tastings in the form of Abruzzo food such as 'fava' (beans), cheese and wine.  A musical group dressed in traditional clothes played music of Abruzzo.  

It really was a lovely way to end a very exciting day!

My Animoto of the day trip.


Trip to Cocullo